So, I'm re-reading one of my childhood favorites, Radio Fifth Grade

[conuly]

It's a Korman book. Good book. The whole plot revolves around our protagonists trying to simultaneously do their impossible weekend homework (ten questions on random subjects with no clue how to find out the answers, the goal is to learn how to think creatively and find information) and work on their radio show. Naturally, their brains come up with "have a quiz show!" because, after all, nobody is going to call in an answer unless they KNOW the answer, right? So now they just have to keep their teacher from finding out.

And it hit me, midway through this book, that nowadays it makes no sense whatsoever. I mean, plots of books rarely make sense when you think about them, because if they made sense they'd be boring (who wants to read about their own life, seriously?), but more than that. Nowadays, if I gave a kid a list of ten random questions and asked them to find the answers, they wouldn't agonize about it, they'd just go to Google. End of problem.

(My mother, when watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", gets very annoyed whenever they phone-a-friend. She says it'd be so easy to have your friend go to google for you, but none of them do that. I wonder what happens if you phone your friend at the very moment your friend is in the bathroom. Do they answer from the bathroom? On national TV?)

Comments

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

GORDON KORMAN! Man, I loved him when I was a kid. Still do, in fact. Ever read "I Want To Go Home", or the Macdonald Hall books?

[conuly]

Oh, yes, definitely. Are you a member of the fanfic comms?

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

I don't write anything, but I read it.

[amygooglegirl.livejournal.com]

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is not live, is it? If someone isn't available they just call back 5 minutes later and then edit the show, I guess.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Hm, at least in the German edition, there have been cases where someone wasn't available and that was it. EDIT: Wrong, they did try again a bit later, but didn't edit the show - so both the call that went wrong and the call that succeeded are broadcast - because in the interim the showmaster and the contestant had discussions that had entertainment value of their own.)

(Of course I guess they may have put that in when the someone wasn't available at all, even five minutes later - or just to pretend that the show, albeit not live, was filmed precisely as it happened, no editing at all... Who knows.)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

There's a time limit on the "phone-a-friend" option. As the show isn't broadcast live, the friend has no way of knowing the question before the call, and once the call is placed and the friend is given the question and the options, there is very little time to answer. Unless you happen to be sitting right in front of your computer (and are either using a headset or capable of typing quickly one-handed) and have a super-silent keyboard that won't be heard a-clicking (=cheating) through the phone, AND you can filter all the search results and read the correct answer reeeeally quickly, there's not really a chance of using google or wikipedia.

Do you have a phone in your bathroom? I am asking out of curiosity, because here most people have (depending on the size of the household) one, two or at most three phones, none of them in the bathroom.
And even if you're in the bathroom, nobody will know, so, um... why care? (Although this may be an American thing; Germans tend not to panic when somebody accidentally opens the bathroom door while they're on the shitter, either, so scenes to that point in American movies generally tend to get an eyeroll or a snort at most. So perhaps talking on the phone in the bathroom is like being disturbed by a real person in the bathroom? But then movie reality isn't actual reality either, so perhaps Americans are a lot cooler than Hollywood gives them credit for. But then, I'm digressing....)

Unless of course you keep peeing while on the phone. But srsly, who does that?

[conuly]

1. There's no rule against using google that I know of, and it's not that hard to type just the keywords of the question into google from the start.

2. So, okay, you don't pick up because you're in the toilet and neglected to bring your cell phone. (I don't even have a HOUSE phone anymore, just the cell.) Do they call back? Call somebody else?

3. Somebody who doesn't do her kegels on a regular basis?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Wasn't the "Phone-a-friend" option actually removed in some version of the show precisely because of the friend using Google? I thought I read something about a scandal to that extent...
I know that Google, Wikipedia, asking someone else in the room or even checking an ordinary offline encyclopedia is absolutely forbidden on the German show. If they hear someone else talking, the clicking of a keyboard or the rustling of pages, you're out. I was assuming that it'd be the same in other formats.
At any rate, I wouldn't trust myself (and I consider myself a quick typer and reader and all right with google-fu) to a) understand the question correctly, b) type in useful keywords, c) skim the answers google throws up and d) select the correct one (it's not always as simple as "Who wrote the book XYZ?") - all in 30 seconds. That might go well, but it also... might not.

Cell phone calls are not allowed (in Germany, anyway). Of course you're informed in advance that you might get a call from WWTBAM so you should keep yourself ready, so I suppose if you're not paying attention to the phone (or forgetting to take it along to the loo) that's... tough luck.

In the German edition (which is the one I have access to at home, obviously), it has happened that the call wasn't answered or only reached an answerphone. It's also happened that they got the number wrong and the showmaster reached someone else entirely, which resulted in a rather amusing chat. I think I remember that in such cases the showmaster did some more chatting, tried again a few minutes later, and if that still yielded no answer, the contestants could either choose someone else to call or else try on their own and keep the phone-a-friend joker for a later question. But I may be wrong there.

[conuly]

Wasn't the "Phone-a-friend" option actually removed in some version of the show precisely because of the friend using Google?

I don't know, my mother watches the re-runs on GSN.

I know that Google, Wikipedia, asking someone else in the room or even checking an ordinary offline encyclopedia is absolutely forbidden on the German show.

It's not explicitly stated in the US version, so I guess we're both just assuming this falls under "ain't no rule"...?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

It's not explicitly stated in the rules you can access on the official page of the show (over here), but several people who got to do "phone a friend" duty reported that they were informed that they had to be a) alone in the room when answering the phone, b) weren't allowed to use any other means but their own brain for answering the question and any attempt to cheat might lead to disqualification and c) had, once they received the call that their friend was in the hot chair, keep themselves ready and answer the phone after three rings...

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

When you hear the phoned friend repeating the question, it's often so the other people in the room can give their silent opinions. They also tell you when to be available.

[conuly]

Yeah, but you're not gonna hold it in forever if you have to go, are you?

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

How long does a taping take? If I know to expect an important phone call between five and seven or whenever, I plan for it. Granted, my body allows me to, but still.

[conuly]

I don't know about you, but occasionally I get massive intestinal distress that I can't plan for. And I'd feel a little weird answering the phone in the middle of a massive poop.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I have happily avoided that kind of massive distress, yes.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

I think that the majority of the kids' books I liked when I was younger would only be about ten pages long if their protagonists had access to the internet and a cell phone.